Largest marine diamond mining vessel to be powered by ABB
With a total cost of $468 million, the world’s first custom-built diamond recovery vessel is the largest single investment ever made in the marine diamond industry. It deploys advanced subsea crawling – a technique for recovering diamonds from the seabed.
Namibia has the richest known marine diamond deposits in the world, with some of the highest quality diamonds available from water of between 90-150 metres deep off the south west coast of the country. Traditionally, onshore along the coastline of Namibia, diamond mining is done in open-cast mines, however, with the land-based output in Namibia expected to run out in 15 years, offshore mining is on the rise.
Namibian rough marine diamonds
The new 177-meter ship has been designed by Norwegian naval architects Marin Teknikk. It will become the largest ship in the owner’s fleet and is expected to increase annual production by 35 percent, contributing additional 500,000 carats to today’s production levels.
ABB has won the contract from Damen Shipyards Group, to supply an integrated power system package. The vessel is being built by Damen at Damen Shipyards Mangalia on the Black Sea in Romania. Financial details of the order were not disclosed.
The newbuild will be delivered in 2022 to Debmarine Namibia, a joint venture between the Government of the Republic of Namibia and De Beers Group (rough diamond traders).
ABB’s power systems have previously been installed onboard the SS Nujoma (SSN), Debmarine Namibia’s deep-water diamond exploration and sampling vessel.
“The success of the SSN, with high reliability, efficient positioning and low fuel consumption coupled with safe operation, was instrumental in selecting the same systems for the new diamond recovery vessel, with ABB’s power systems being an integral part of the solution,” says Michael Curtis, who is heading the new build project for Debmarine Namibia.
In addition to the advanced system for power generation, distribution and variable speed drive propulsion systems, the ABB solution includes a large online double-conversion marine uninterruptible power supply (MUPS) to support the ship’s vital control processes, reducing the risk of critical power loss and downtime. ABB’s MUPS is designed for undisrupted availability, ensuring power backup for the vessel’s onboard control systems of the subsea-crawler and processing plant that sorts through sediment lifted from the seabed to extract diamonds. ABB’s advanced and tightly integrated power system will help optimise engine loading, as well as reduce running hours and fuel costs, and decrease maintenance needs.
